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Chris Waller‘s undefeated Epsom Handicap winner Autumn Glow heads betting on Saturday’s $10 million The Golden Eagle 2025 field with the boom mare to jump from barrier 9 of 17 with four-time Cox Plate winning hoop James McDonald to ride.
The Golden Eagle (1500m) has moved from Rosehill to Royal Randwick for the seventh edition this season and we’ve got a class line-up of gun gallopers vying for the big prize on the same day in Sydney as the Melbourne Cup Carnival kicks off further south with Flemington hosting Victoria Derby Day.
Heading the latest Golden Eagle odds at Ladbrokes.com.au on the final field is Waller’s outstanding daughter of The Autumn Sun, Autumn Glow, at $2.20 to hand the stable a second win following that of the inaugural champ Kolding in 2019.
Autumn Glow has been a revelation – she’s seven-from-seven, fresh off an Epsom demolition job at the track, and now looks set to scorch the turf in the richest race for four-year-olds.
Like Kolding, Autumn Glow chases the Epsom Handicap – Golden Eagle double after overcoming barrier 12 of 12 to claim the famous Randwick mile showdown on October 4 by 1.44 lengths to extend her picket fence.
She has been the dominant four-year-old of the season so far and that is expected to continue this weekend.
J-Mac, fresh off his historic fourth straight Ladbrokes Cox Plate victory and second aboard the dual champion Via Sistina, reunites with Saturday’s Golden Eagle favourite having ridden her for three wins so far, the latest of which was her impressive Group 3 Toy Show Quality victory fresh on a Heavy (10) track back in August.
The fact McDonald has opted to come to Sydney on Saturday to ride Autumn Glow over a shot at the Group 1 Melbourne races speaks volumes for his opinion of the mare and the punters are confident she can join Colette (2020) as the only Golden Eagle winning mares.
50/1 outsider Lord Penman, to be ridden by the ‘Magic Man’ Joao Moreira from wider out in gate 16, is the other Waller trained Golden Eagle hopeful in 2025.
The son of Contributer was seventh to his stablemate in the Epsom and comes in off a last start second in the Silver Eagle when well beaten here over 1300m.
Autumn Glow is the clear top elect, but two other runners are also currently under double figures to win the Golden Eagle with Japan’s Panja Tower and Linebacker both at $6 and drawn side-by-side in gates four and five respectively.
Panja Tower is trained by Shinsuke Hashiguchi and is out to become the second Japanese trained Golden Eagle winner following the 2023 win by Obamburumai.
The Tower Of London entire is being kept safe in the markets for his Australian race debut and comes in boasting a solid record of four wins from six starts back home.
He was excellent at a big price when claiming a Group 1 over the mile at Tokyo at 25/1 back in May before showing off his versatility to go back-to-back and secure a Group 3 win in August over six furlongs.
Drawn to get a dream run, Panja Tower’s chances of upstaging the locals in Sydney are further boosted by his regular jockey Kohei Matsuyama having also travelled to Oz for the ride.
Linebacker meanwhile comes off an impressive Silver Eagle win with the in-form John O’Shea & Tom Charlton trained Super Seth having put 2.63 lengths on the next best that day when giving weight away with 58.5kg from barrier 12 of 13.
The flying Zac Lloyd retains the ride for his Grand Final, Linebacker has drawn a kinder gate now, and he looks well positioned to give Autumn Glow a run for her money back at set weights.
He also kicks the class box having secured a Group 1 win as a three-year-old in the autumn at the track in the Randwick Guineas, and he’ll be fit third-up ready to go.
Evaporate at Golden Eagle odds of $11 is the next best fancied to upstage the heavily supported favourite.
Lindsay Park‘s son of Per Incanto jumps from barrier 7 with Nash Rawiller coming aboard.
He brings up some strong form lines from Melbourne having won the Group 3 Sandown Stakes first-up with 59kg beating Transatlantic who subsequently turned the tables to win the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield – a race Evaporate placed a very close second in.
Randwick also holds no fears for the consistent up-and-comer as he has also ticked the track box with a powerhouse Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes win by nearly three lengths over Swiftfalcon back in April at his only other start here.
The rails-drawn Perfumist ($15) for Bjorn Baker, recent Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke champion Sepals ($15) out to atone for his dead last (10th) in the Toorak when suffering lots of interference, and the now Ciaron Maher trained reigning NZ Derby winner Willydoit ($15) are the other contenders highest up the markets.
The 2025 Golden Eagle is scheduled to run as Randwick Race 8 at 4:45pm (AEDT) on Saturday’s 10-race Sydney card.
| 14. Autumn Glow (8) J: James McDonald55.5kg 1x111T: Chris Waller | ||
| 4. Sepals (6) J: Ethan Brown57.5kg 4x110T: Cliff Brown | ||
| 1. Evaporate (7) J: Nash Rawiller57.5kg 1x512T: Ben, Will & Jd Hayes | ||
| 7. Depth Of Character (2) J: Jason Collett57.5kg x0308T: Annabel & Rob Archibald | ||
| 12. Panja Tower (4) J: Kohei Matsuyama56.5kg 41x1xT: Shinsuke Hashiguchi | ||
| 11. Cristal Clear (12) J: Braith Nock57.5kg 41112T: Annabel & Rob Archibald | ||
| 3. Linebacker (5) J: Zac Lloyd57.5kg 18x71T: John O'Shea & Tom Charlton | ||
| 16. Modella (11) J: Chad Schofield55.5kg 5x371T: Lee & Cherie Curtis | ||
| 5. Willydoit (10) J: Tim Clark57.5kg 14x87T: Ciaron Maher | ||
| 15. Perfumist (1) J: Rachel King55.5kg 60412T: Bjorn Baker | ||
| 6. Fully Lit (13) J: Regan Bayliss57.5kg 51232T: Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | ||
| 10. Shangri La Spring (16) J: Tyler Schiller57.5kg 47x74T: Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | ||
| 13. Seagulls Eleven (3) J: Tom Marquand56.5kg 6218xT: H Palmer | ||
| 2. Feroce (9) J: Josh Parr57.5kg 6x638T: Dominic Sutton | ||
| 8. Lord Penman (15) J: Joao Moreira57.5kg x2772T: Chris Waller | ||
| 9. Mayfair (14) J: Dylan Gibbons57.5kg 5x2x3T: Bjorn Baker |
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